Handheld Electronic Book Reader with Annotation and Usage Tracking Capabilities

1. A method of monitoring usage of an electronic document, the method comprising: tracking usage of a handheld electronic book reader by a user when viewing a plurality of pages in an electronic document stored in the handheld electronic book reader, wherein the user is a student, and wherein the electronic document includes educational material from a reading assignment that has been assigned to the student; for each of the plurality of pages, generating at least one usage statistic associated with that page based upon the tracked usage; and using the usage statistic to determine whether the student has read the reading assignment, and further comprising determining whether to revise at least one of the electronic document and a lesson plan with which the electronic document is associated based upon the usage statistic.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein tracking usage of the handheld electronic book reader by the user includes at least one of tracking how long the user views a selected page among the plurality of pages, tracking how many times the user views a selected page among the plurality of pages, tracking how long the user views a selected page among the plurality of pages subsequent to a first viewing of the selected page, and tracking whether the user powers the handheld electronic book reader off while viewing a selected page among the plurality of pages.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one usage statistic is selected from the group consisting of page view time, power off count, page review count, page review time, and combinations thereof.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: tracking usage of a second handheld electronic book reader by a second user when viewing a second copy of the electronic document that is stored in the second handheld electronic book reader; generating at least one usage statistic for the second user; and receiving in an analysis computer the usage statistics for the first and second users from the first and second handheld electronic book readers.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising using the usage statistic to determine whether the user needs supplemental assistance.

6. A method of monitoring usage of an electronic document, the method comprising: tracking usage of a handheld electronic book reader by a user when viewing an electronic document stored in the handheld electronic book reader, including tracking user access to at least one term definition stored in the handheld electronic book reader when viewing the electronic document; and generating at least one usage statistic for the user based upon the tracked usage, wherein tracking user access to at least one term definition includes tracking how many times the user views the term definition, and further comprising determining whether to revise at least one of the electronic document and a lesson plan with which the electronic document is associated based upon the usage statistic.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein tracking user access to at least one term definition includes tracking how long the user views the term definition.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the term definition is associated with at least one context, and wherein tracking user access to at least one term definition includes tracking user access to the context.

9. A method of monitoring usage of an electronic document, the method comprising: tracking usage of a first handheld electronic book reader by a first user when viewing a first copy of an electronic document stored in the first handheld electronic book reader; tracking usage of a second electronic book reader by a second user when viewing a second copy of the electronic document stored in the second handheld electronic book reader; generating at least one usage statistic for each of the first and second users based upon the tracked usages; receiving in an analysis computer the usage statistics for the first and second users from the first and second handheld electronic book readers; and using the usage statistics for the first and second users to revise at least one of the electronic document and a lesson plan with which the electronic document is associated, wherein the electronic document comprises educational material, and wherein the first and second users are students assigned to read the educational material.

10. A method of monitoring usage of an electronic document, the method comprising: tracking usage of a handheld electronic book reader by a user when viewing an electronic document stored in the handheld electronic book reader, wherein the user is a student, and wherein the electronic document comprises educational material assigned to the student; generating at least one usage statistic for the user based upon the tracked usage; and using the usage statistic to determine whether the user needs supplemental assistance with the educational material, and further comprising determining whether to revise at least one of the electronic document and a lesson plan with which the electronic document is associated based upon the usage statistic.